Cops: Woman rowing perimeter of Lake Michigan sexually assaulted

Suspect sketch and vehicle

Michigan State Police

The Michigan State Police has released this sketch of a suspect wanted for a sexual assault that occurred on Sunday July 22 in Schoolcraft County, Mich. The police also released a photo of a Jeep similar to a vehicle seen in the area around the time of the assault.

The Michigan State Police has released this sketch of a suspect wanted for a sexual assault that occurred on Sunday July 22 in Schoolcraft County, Mich. The police also released a photo of a Jeep similar to a vehicle seen in the area around the time of the assault. (Michigan State Police)

Gibbons spent much of today working with detectives and reaching out to the media to help find her attacker, she said in an interview. Her primary concerns, she said, are starting the healing process and finishing what she has started.

“Quitting is an option,” she said. “I don’t think people would think I let them down or I was a failure. But it’s not what I want to do. I’ve trained enough physically, spiritually and mentally. Every single day I have had ups and downs. I’m constantly improvising. If it wasn’t like that, I don’t know if I’d have the tools to handle it.”

Around 8 a.m., Gibbons posted a statement on her Facebook about the attack. By the afternoon, she had 60 missed phone calls and had received hundreds of emails. Support has come from friends, strangers, breast cancer survivors and victims of sexual assaults, she said.

“Because this has been such a public thing from the start and I have an audience, I think it’s important that I share (what happened),” she said. “When I do share, people have been able to relate and gain some kind of strength or inspiration from what I’ve been going through. And it helps me share, too.”

Police have released a sketch of the man they described as in his 30s, about 5’8’’ with facial hair, light eyes and an average build. He was wearing a grayish green T-shirt, jean shorts and tennis shoes.

In a message posted on her blog, Gibbons had vowed to continue her trip, which was scheduled to begin June 15 at Diversey Harbor, and said she wants to be on the water as soon as next week.

“I know that I had a choice in telling people about the details of my attack, particularly that it was a sexual assault. To go through this at all, let alone publicly, is extremely difficult. I chose to talk about it in the hope that someone might be able to provide more information about the person who did this to me,” the post says.

A news release from Michigan police says a bright yellow Jeep Wrangler was seen in the area of the attack. It has a spare tire on the back with a yellow happy-face on it.

Gibbons, a Battle Creek, Mich. native, is a men’s novice coach for St. Ignatius High School Chicago Crew and teaches private sculling lessons, according to her web site.

According to her blog, another reason she took on the rowing challenge was to raise awareness about Recovery on Water, the rowing team for breast cancer survivors that she founded and coaches.

Chicago rowing coach and charity founder Jenn Gibbons plans to continue her 1,500-mile rowing journey around the perimeter of Lake Michigan after surviving a sexual assault that took place in her rowboat on Sunday.

A burst of thunderstorm activity across the Chicago area in Sunday afternoon resulted in multiple injuries and a death at an event in west suburban Wood Dale, the collapse of a dome in northwest suburban Rosemont and the temporary evacuation of the music festival Lollapalooza in Grant Park downtown.